Keeping Yourself Organized
Organizing your literature review can be a challenge, but it's important that you find a method that works for you. Fortunately, there are many tools and platforms out there designed to help you! Zotero and Mendeley are two good options, but BGSU Libraries subscribes to and supports RefWorks.
Check out our guides on using RefWorks and Zotero below:
- Organizing the ReviewThis webpage from Albany College contains recommendations and videos about how to organize and plan your literature review.
Tips
Here are some tips for conducting literature reviews:
1. How do you know that you have found the pivotal works on a topic?
- Use a wide range of search tools including local, state, and national book catalogs.
- Use subject-specific article databases to search through scholarly journal literature.
- Don't forget to use Google Scholar. This is especially great for entering the name of a theory for example. Try searching for self-efficacy. You will see that the first result points to Bandura's work. An indicator that this is an important work in the field is that his work has been cited by 11,000 other authors.
- You know that your searches for information are nearing completion when you start seeing references to the same authors or research pieces.
2. How do you track down citations from a reference list at the end of a journal article or book chapter?
- Look carefully at the citation to determine what type of information you are looking for. Is it a book, an article, or a dissertation? This will be a clue as to what type of search tool you need to use to find the source. If the citation is for a book, then you will need to use a catalog. If it is for an article, then you will typically need to use an article database.
- The easiest way to find out if BGSU Libraries has the full-text of an article is to search our online catalog on the library homepage. Be sure to put quotation marks around the title before hitting the search button. If we do not have the article you are looking for, fill out an Interlibrary Loan form and we will email it to you for free within a few days.
Tips compiled by Dr. Colleen Boff, Head Librarian, Curriculum Resource Center (BGSU)
Books on Literature Reviews
Getting It Right: The Essential Elements of a Dissertation (Ch. 2: Review of Literature) by ISBN: 9781610489201Publication Date: 2012-09-27Getting It Right: The Essential Elements of the Dissertation was written for graduate students writing their dissertations. Clearly written and organized into five thematic chapters--introduction and rationale; review of literature; methods; results/findings; and interpretation and recommendations--this key writing source includes comprehensive examples taken directly from high-quality, scholarly dissertations. With motivational pep talks for graduate students and appropriate tips for mentors, Getting It Right is a thorough, but reader-friendly guide for both dissertation writers and their faculty advisors.
Making Literature Reviews Work by Call Number: Online ResourceISBN: 9783030900243Publication Date: 2022-08-11This textbook guides the reader on how to undertake high-quality literature reviews, from traditional narrative to protocol-driven reviews. The guidance covers a broad range of purposes, disciplines and research paradigms. Whether the literature review is part of a research project, doctoral study, dissertation or a stand-alone study, the book offers approaches, methods, tools, tips and guidelines to produce more effective literature reviews in an efficient manner.
Planning Your Postgraduate Research (Ch. 4: Writing the Literature Review) by ISBN: 9781137427342Publication Date: 2015-04-21This comprehensive and easy-to-use book supports postgraduate researchers in the early stages of their project. Written in an engaging and accessible style, it helps readers to clarify what they want to research and how to conduct that research. Each chapter covers a key stage in the process, from selecting an appropriate research topic and developing a working research question through to assimilating and evaluating relevant literature. It then guides researchers through the process of writing a literature review, selecting a research methodology and creating a research proposal. This invaluable guide is ideal for PhD and Masters students alike and will equip them with the skills needed to get their research project underway
Writing for Inquiry and Research (Ch. 3: The Literature Review) by ISBN: 9781946011213Publication Date: 2023-07-19
